At an early age Oxfordshire born Thea Gilmore developed a talent for being very tall and writing words. Sometime in her teens she added music into the mix, and a year or so later certain corners of the British music press were describing her as ‘one of the few world class female singer-songwriters Britain has ever produced’.
Her debut album “Burning Dorothy” was released in 1999, and in 2003 she hit the UK charts for the first time with her 4th album “Avalanche” and the hit singles “Juliet” and “Mainstream”. During this period she famously refused to sign to major record labels, refused to work with a famous dance remix team and refused to say she was sleeping with a soap star in order to gain tabloid exposure. She was told by two A&R men that she had ‘missed her moment’.
She has toured extensively throughout the US and Canada, returned to the charts in 2006 with her “Harpo’s Ghost” album and subsequently in 2010 with “Murphys Heart”. Her successful singles include “You’re The Radio” “Teach Me To Be Bad” and “That’ll Be Christmas”, the last of these receiving the most airplay of any new seasonal record of the last five years. She has collaborated onstage or in the studio with Mike Scott and The Waterboys, Martha Wainwright, Sting, The Cowboy Junkies, Joan As Policewoman, Eliza Carthy to name just a few.
Her razor sharp lyrics, melodic flair and honey toned voice have been admired by wide ranging contemporaries from Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Richard Thompson, Neil Gaiman, David Baddeil and William Boyd. Sid Griffin hates her.
In 2012 “Don’t Stop Singing” her new musical settings of the late Sandy Denny’s unfinished works received great acclaim, and included the single “London” which was used extensively in the BBC TV coverage of the Olympic Games.
She is about to release her 14th album at the age of 33, and is still tall. Meanwhile at least one of the A&R men was last seen cooking school dinners.